Note: Images of the original pages are available through Internet Archive. See http://archive.org/details/curiositiesofsup00adam CURIOSITIES OF SUPERSTITION, And Sketches of some Unrevealed Religions. by W. H. DAVENPORT ADAMS, Author of “Heroes of the Cross,” etc. “To my mind there is no study more absorbing than that of the Religions of the World,--the study, if I may so call it, of the various languages in which man has spoken to his Maker, and of that language in which his Maker ‘at sundry times and in divers manners’ spake to man.”--MAX MÜLLER. “Primus in orbe Deos fecit timor.”--STATIUS, _Thebaid_, 661. LONDON: J. MASTERS AND CO., 78, NEW BOND STREET. MDCCCLXXXII. London: J. Masters and Co., 78, New Bond Street. MDCCCLXXXII. London: Printed by J. Masters and Co., Albion Buildings, Bartholomew Close. CONTENTS. CHAPTER PAGE I. BUDDHISM, ITS ORIGIN AND CEREMONIES 1 II. MAGIANISM: THE PARSEES 43 III. JEWISH SUPERSTITIONS 68 IV. BRAHMANISM 84 V. HINDU MYTHOLOGY, AND THE VISHNU PURANA 99 VI. IN CHINA: CONFUCIANISM, TAOUISM, AND BUDDHISM 119 VII. AMONG THE MALAYS, THE SLAMATAN BROMOK, THE DYAKS, THE PAPUAN TRIBES, THE AHETAS 142 VIII. THE SAVAGE RACES OF ASIA: THE SAMOJEDES; THE MONGOLS; THE OSTIAKS; IN TIBET 155 IX. SOME AFRICAN SUPERSTITIONS 171 X. THE ZULU WITCH-FINDERS 180 XI. ZABIANISM AND SERPENT-WORSHIP 186 XII. POLYNESIAN SUPERSTITIONS 214 XIII. THE FIJI ISLANDERS 230 XIV. THE RELIGION OF THE MAORIES 241 XV. THE NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS 254 XVI. AMONG THE ESKIMOS 274 XVII. A MEDIÆVAL SUPERSTITION: THE FLAGELLANTS 279 XVIII. SCOTTISH SUPERSTITIONS: HALLOWEEN 288 XIX. SECOND SIGHT: DIVINATION: UNIVERSALITY OF CERTAIN SUPERSTITIONS: FAIRIES IN SCOTLAND 300 CURIOSITIES OF SUPERSTITION. CHAPTER I. _BUDDHISM: ITS ORIGIN AND CEREMONIES._ PRAYER-WHEELS OF THE BUDDHISTS.